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Survival
of the Dead Reviewer
Dave Reda is an independent film maker from the San Francisco
Bay Area with such films as the independent horror film
BIT PARTS and most recently HORROR OF LOVE: A SHORT FILM
playing soon at a film festival near you.
Being
an independent horror film maker myself, naturally I was
very excited to see the latest George Romero zombie film
Survival of the Dead and stayed for the Q&A
after with the man himself.
I really
wanted this film to be great because like so many other
horror fans I grew up on Romero's zombie films, and the
last two, Land of the Dead and Diary of the
Dead, were a bit of a letdown for me, feeling more
like imitation Romero films rather than the real thing.
I am so happy to say I was not let down this time. This
film was the Romero zombie film the fans and I have been
waiting for.
It's
a continuation from Diary, but not shot a la
Cloverfield, thankfully, which I thought was a clever
way to continue the story. We follow the story of Crockett
(Alan Van Sprang), the lead soldier that stopped the RV
and everybody in Diary. Like in that film, Crockett
and his crew are just looking for somewhere safe from the
zombie hordes attacking the town.
They
get word of an island that is a safe haven by way of shady
Patrick O'Flynn (Kenneth Welsh). Things do not go as planned
and when they get to the island they find themselves in
the middle of a feud, Hatfield and McCoy style.
I really
do not want to say too much more about it or ruin anything
for you other than to say what makes Romero's films better
than most, Romero's message comes clean and true that the
zombies aren't really the problem. It is the living people
scrambling and crawling causing the real problems.
The
acting was superb. Another thing that sets Romero's zombies
films apart is that he really makes you care about every
single character. It was a great roller coaster ride filled
with scares, laughs, and a few Wile E. Coyote style deaths.
Who could ask for anything more?
The
only slight problem I had with the film was just a few little
over the top CGI zombie deaths but it was not bad.
Lastly,
it was such an honor for me to sit and listen to George
Romero in such a comfortable and relaxed way, discuss his
films, the possibility of doing a video game and what he
is trying to say with his zombie films. I've always tried
to have a message in my films and not beat you over the
head with it, a strong story and characters. It all seems
so important to me; it was really great to see a film maker
I admire say that what I am fighting to do independently
is worth it.
For
more information on Dave Reda or his films please check
out www.elftwinfilms.com.
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